Hayden, Dovizioso seventh and eighth in Barcelona free practice

The two Ducati Team riders are doing their best to find the ideal settings for their Desmosedici GP13 race machines.

Day one of the Catalan Grand Prix concluded with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso occupying the seventh and eight positions, respectively in the combined times from the first two MotoGP free-practice sessions.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation

Conditions at the Circuit de Catalunya were warmer today than has been the case at the previous rounds, and the two Ducati Team riders are doing their best to find the ideal settings for their Desmosedici GP13 race machines.

Nicky Hayden - Ducati Team, 7th (1:42.890): “It wasn’t a spectacular day, but the team has worked well and made some good improvements between exits, which helped us to increase our pace in the afternoon.

With a new tyre, the bike is working well, but it becomes a problem when the grip goes away. I got into the 42s twice, and the gap to the next couple of guys is pretty small, but we’ve got to do anything we can to improve the longevity of the tyres.”

Andrea Dovizioso - Ducati Team, 8th (1:42.988): “I think we’ve still got a lot of work to do, as I’m not feeling comfortable on the bike in a number of ways. We must re-evaluate the riding position because this track is quite different from Mugello and requires different solutions.

We’re not sure about the moved-back position, which had worked well at the test last week in Italy. For this reason, we tried a number of different setups. Pace-wise, we’re not so bad, but we definitely must improve because the pace always increases in the race, and those who are best prepared do better.”